Cenesthopathy

Cenesthopathy (from French: cénestopathie,^[1] formed from the Ancient Greek κοινός (koinós) "common", αἴσθησῐς (aísthēsis) "feeling", "perception" + πᾰ́θος (páthos) "feeling, suffering, condition"), also known as coenesthesiopathy,^[2] is a rare psychiatric term used to refer to the feeling of being ill and this feeling is not localized to one region of the body.^[3] Most notably, cenesthopathies are characterized by aberrant and strange bodily sensations (for example, a feeling of wires or coils being present within the oral region; tightening, burning, pressure, tickling etc. occurring in various parts of the body, and so on).^[4]

Ernest Dupré (1862-1921), French psychiatrist and coiner of the term Cenestopathy alongside Paul Camus

Classification of cenesthopathies

Type [2][5]	Etymology	Clinical description
Coenesthesiopathy (cenesthopathy)	"Coenesthesia" (κοινός + [αἴ]σθησῐς) + -"pathy".	A pathological alteration in the sense of bodily being, caused by abnormal, bizarre sensations in the body.
Hypercoenesthesiopathy (hypercenesthopathy)	("hyper-", from Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér, "excess") + "coenesthesiopathy")	A hypertrophic alteration in the sense of bodily being, caused by abnormal, bizarre sensations in the body.
Hypocoenesthesiopathy (hypocenesthopathy)	("hypo-", from Ancient Greek ὑπό (hupó, "under") + coenesthesiopathy)	A hypotrophic alteration in the sense of bodily being, caused by abnormal, bizarre sensations in the body.
Paracoenesthesiopathy (paracenesthopathy)	("para-", from Ancient Greek παρά (pará, "beside, by, contrary to") + coenesthesiopathy)	A qualitative alteration in the sense of bodily being, caused by abnormal, bizarre sensations in the body.
Acoenesthesiopathy[note 1] (acenesthopathy)	("a-", from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, "not") + coenesthesiopathy)	A total absence of the sense of physical existence.

Cenesthopathic schizophrenia

The established occurrence of coenesthetic hallucinations in 18% of individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis of schizophrenia has led to the formulation of a separate subgroup of schizophrenia in the ICD-10, called cenesthopathic schizophrenia.^[2][6] Cenesthopathic schizophrenia is included (but not defined) within the category "other schizophrenia" (F20.8) in the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.^[7][8]

History

Cenesthopathy (originally French: cénestopathie) is a term created in 1907 by the French neuro-psychiatrists Ernest Ferdinand Pierre Louis Dupré and Paul Camus.^[1][9][10]